Petes hand Colts their 4th straight loss, Peterborough 6 Barrie 3
After a momentous pre-game ceremony in which Petes, NHL, and Hockey Canada legend Chris Pronger was honoured with his likeness raised to the Peterborough Memorial Centre Rafters, the Petes hosted the Barrie Colts in front of a raucous crowd.
Despite honouring one of the game’s best defenders, it was the combined offensive attack of each club that characterized Sunday’s match-up. Ten minutes into the opening stanza, Czech standout Dominik Masin stepped took a pass from Matt Spencer, walked over the blue-line, and beat rookie keeper Ruan Badenhorst with a blistering wrister.
The chances were mounting at the end for the first period, but the teams entered the locker rooms with Peterborough still leading 1-0 despite Barrie holding a 15-3 shot lead, and a 4-0 powerplay advantage.
In the second period, the goals were aplenty. Matt Spencer added a tally of his own with a funny bank shot on the powerplay early in the second. Anthony Stefano and Greg Betzold added helpers on the play. Just three minutes later, Hunter Garlent got in on the action with a powerplay goal of his own from Eric Cornel and Masin.
On another Petes powerplay opportunity in the eighth minute, it was Barrie who got on the board. Justin Scott streaked down the left wing and snuck one under Matt Mancina’s glove arm to make it 3-1 Petes. The special teams continued to dominate through the rest of the second period, as Anthony Stefano (Lorentz and Betzold) and Josh MacDonald (Garlent) scored for the home team.
These goals were cancelled out by Andrew Mangiapane (Blandisi and Labanc) and Brendan Lemieux’s (Anderson and Mangiapane) powerplay goals, bringin the score to 5-3 at the end of two. Peterborough took a 30-26 shot lead into the final frame.
Things settled down after the seven-goal second as the teams grinded away the final twenty minutes. Hunter Garlent added an empty-net goal from Nick Ritchie, giving the Petes a 6-3 win. Matt Mancina stopped 33 pucks for his second straight win, while Ruan Badenhorst made 40 stops in the loss.
Masin, Spencer, and Mangiapane were the first, second, and third star.
